


Alone Together

by YaminoTenshi202



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: (Mention of) Raditz x Vegeta, F/M, M/M, Research, Rimming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-04-23 01:09:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4857485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YaminoTenshi202/pseuds/YaminoTenshi202
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Potara Fusion was to be permanent, and it was, as far as Vegetto knew. The Dragon could undo the Fusion; he knew that too. He knew that he wasn't wanted, a creature born of necessity... and of love. If only the families that he had been born to could understand that the last two Saiya-jin didn't want to be separated... </p><p>It would actually give Vegetto more problems than he needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Love

**Author's Note:**

> One of two ideas (the other was "Kindness") I got after my nephew got me back into Dragon Ball Z… and I looked up Vegetto again after many years of buried interest. I love him so...

“Vegeta! Put the Potara earring on your right ear!”

“You were holding back when you fought me!”

“There’s no time for pride! Buu ate everybody else - Piccolo, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and even Bulma! That’s how he’s gotten so strong now!”

“Grr… Give that to me!”

Goku handed over the Potara, a smile on his face.

There was nothing that was deterring Vegeta as he put the earring on, not even the thought of being merged together with Goku permanently. For his mate and for his son, he would do this. He was sure that for the other Saiya-jin, he was doing this for his mate and sons as well.

“There!”

As he put the earring in a proper place that allowed it to stay securely, Vegeta felt a sudden pull towards the other Saiya-jin. There was surprise, light, and suddenly…

There was warmth, and it felt wonderful. Kakarotto had had a much different experience living on this planet, this blue rock that had gained no interest from Frieza, truly. The human culture had accepted his eccentricities of strength and persistence in battle. That strange acceptance that the other Saiya-jin had recognized, Vegeta accepted.

He felt Kakarotto pressing against his mind, curious. There was hesitance, but Vegeta found the curiosity innocent, in the way that Kakarotto always held himself, and he let the other Saiya-jin in. The curiosity entered his heart, and he saw even more of the life that Kakarotto had led, of the armies, assassins, and many demons he’d seen and defeated. Such strength, and Vegeta felt that he could never match it.

‘Could I ever..?’

‘Yes!’ Energy began running through him, and such determination and drive that Vegeta had never felt. He had his own, but this energy held such innocence and brutality that Vegeta had perhaps felt in his infancy. It held no maliciousness - only light.

‘Why... is it so calm here? Not lonely?’

‘Because we’re together.’ Kakarotto nodded and approached him.

Such generosity… It felt…

‘Come closer…’ Vegeta did, and he felt Kakarotto embrace him. It felt... ‘It’s nice like this… Isn’t it, Vegeta?’

‘... It is.’

Some light emerged between them. It was an accumulation of everything that Vegeta had felt, and they had come from Kakarotto as well.

‘What is it?’

‘Our Potara fusion.’ Kakarotto reached out to it, and it responded to his caresses. It had a voice that was permeated peace and viciousness, a perfect combination of the two. 'It's forming now, and everything here is as fast as this light shining right now... When I saw Dai Kaio-sama and Kibito fuse, it was an instant. Just before the light.'

‘This is us, then? A light?’

‘Our bodies will be the same once the light is born. Calm and vicious,’ Kakarotto stated, echoing what Vegeta himself had thought. ‘... There’s love there too.’

‘Love?’ Vegeta wanted to scoff, but he felt it. All the care he had ever felt and would feel for his son, mate, his race… It was there. Strangely, he felt similar emotions towards Kakarotto’s sons and mate. Was this fusion, then? Their minds together, as well as their emotions…

The happiness that Kakarotto had felt when meeting him, fighting with him… It mirrored what Vegeta had felt when encountering their youngest pure-blooded Saiyan that had survived the genocide, the only other one in existence. He didn’t truly have a physical need to conquer the other, only to fight him. Yet, he found himself obsessed.

He turned and found the younger Saiya-jin pouting his lips slightly. With this amount of energy and intimacy, Vegeta found himself recalling something primal. He found himself responding to it, in the same mindset that he had felt when meeting the Saiya-jin fourteen years ago. The only one left of his race, and the feeling to continue their bloodline continued as a base instinct alongside the one to conquer.

‘Do you know what you’re doing?’

‘... Not really,’ Kakarotto responded, panting slightly. The confusion was evident in his face. ‘Can I… Show me? What it means?’

He felt caresses against him, asking permission. Kakarotto was quiet - miraculously - and Vegeta found himself growing warm at the soft touches. There was a roughness to them but always considerate. It was different than Bulma’s touches, and he could see that they were different than Chi-Chi’s as well.

Kakarotto had his own way of touching, almost of worshiping, that had Vegeta recall the barbarity of his Saiya-jin blood. His blood began to pulse through him as it used to when seeing the Moon, the ferocity that urged him to destroy- to claim- to devour. His breath heavy, his teeth sharper; Kakarotto would give way beneath him. He would devour this only other one like him, and he found himself lusting over the thought, the same way that he felt Kakarotto’s mind craving it.

He lurched forward, burying his teeth into Kakarotto’s neck, to which the other responded with a loud keening. The skin beneath his tongue was thrilling, a pulse that was matching his own and tasting like Saiya-jin blood. In the space where their souls were existing, Vegeta pushed the other down, claiming him and ripping himself away to devour another part of the body beneath him. The blood that he drew appeared as liquid light, the color that their ki took when reaching the level of Super Saiya-jin. The hands that came up to continue their caresses came more fiercely, nails digging into him and drawing blood as they drew down.

Kakarotto’s head came up as well, drawing blood from Vegeta’s neck, and just as Vegeta came forward to claim his tongue and taste, he found the liquid light in Kakarotto’s mouth to be mesmerizing. Their tongues battled, Kakarotto’s trying to claim his mouth and enter as deep as it could. It was as though he wanted to climb inside of Vegeta and stay there, taking and giving - because that was the kind of man he was, generous - that precious light.

When Vegeta pulled away, he saw Kakarotto’s eyes. They were as blank as the Moon, and his teeth were fangs, only wanting. Kakarotto was saying his name in a way that could be described as ‘needy’ but there was an earnest nature to it. Vegeta wanted to appease that and abuse it, the greedy nature that Kakarotto was known for, the desire that he felt to always grow stronger. That greed that mirrored his own once he had met the younger Saiya-jin. He pressed forward, giving into the light. Kakarotto pressed against him, refusing.

‘Why?’

‘Let me,’ was the only answer Kakarotto gave. He pushed Vegeta back, not into a dominating position however.

Vegeta was now straddling the younger Saiya-jin’s waist. He and Kakarotto were disrobed by the light between them, which was eagerly waiting for whatever was about to occur.

‘It’s watching.’

‘It’s happy,’ Kakarotto explained, pressing harsh kisses to Vegeta’s jaw. 'It's waiting to be born, and it feels loved, I think. I feel loved, with all these kisses you're giving me.'

‘Shut up.’

Following instinct, Vegeta let out a small snarl and dug his fingers into Kakarotto’s hair, pulling back his head and baring his neck. Being pushed down by the shoulders, Kakarotto struggled for a moment, pouting slightly. Vegeta laughed softly, sneering down at the other, shoulders relaxing somewhat.

Taking in the other’s expression, Kakarotto looked confused for a moment before grunting. He raised a hand to Vegeta, slowly. In response, the older Saiya-jin raised one of Kakarotto’s own legs over his shoulder. He grasped the offered hand in one hand and pounding the space beneath them in a show of power with the other. Kakarotto let out another soft grunt, humming as the light around them grew.

Kakarotto’s body was warm and tight and pleasurable in every way that Vegeta had found Bulma not to be, due to the other’s body not structured for reproduction in this sense. Bulma couldn’t handle the stress of mating with a Saiya-jin, the force of which was never held back in such acts of intimacy, as their powers searched for compatibility. Her voice didn’t resonate with his in a duet that Kakarotto naturally made with his, a song of submission, dominance, and togetherness that flowed in their veins. Kakarotto displayed a wide smile as Vegeta came down to bite his neck again, marking him, and pulling away, jerking Kakarotto’s pliant leg - that lay to the side - up to rest on his other shoulder.

Kakarotto was almost thrashing beneath him, trying to thrust against him. His eyes were still wild and he managed to bite Vegeta’s wrist when the pounding fist had stopped its movements. Vegeta laughed and let the other Saiya-jin’s legs fall from his shoulders, grunting in pleasure as Kakarotto’s body became even tighter as that; it was also enjoyable to see Kakarotto let out a keen at the difference in sensation.

For a moment, Vegeta stopped. He monitored the other’s reactions. Kakarotto was panting, his mouth open. Vegeta came to bring their faces closer, humming in curiosity at the emotions behind the expression. Kakarotto’s eyes showed no aggression, no sign of wanting to fight for his dominance just yet. The scent of Vegeta was still in his mouth, and Vegeta could taste Kakarotto on his tongue. He could even smell it on his own body. He panted, laughing at the naivety of the other; even without having an education of mating behavior, Kakarotto still left his scent on him with his earlier caresses. He thrust one time and was shocked to hear a whimper to match the face of a Saiya-jin that had given in, open-mouthed and grunting. Kakarotto looked to Vegeta, lust the only identifiable emotion there, and nodded, panting.

He was only happy to oblige.

The duet settled into hoots, grunts, and whimpers, a song forming that made their Saiya-jin blood run more quickly, their hearts pumping more fiercely. The light around them was not their concern now, only that they were initiating something that hadn’t been created since the destruction of their mother planet so many years ago.

The light rejoiced, and it was born.


	2. Cacoethes

When he opened his eyes, he was flooded with memories. He had lived upon the Earth and Vegeta-sei and in the far reaches of space; he had been living in peaceful solitude and in an isolated world of violence; he had friends and family discover him to suffer with them, and he had discovered family and friends after suffering. It had been only an instant in which the union had taken place, but he could see his sires coming together, their bodies joining in a sacred dance that the Moon blessed so often. He closed his eyes - a quick blink, really - and he imagined what it would be like if he could exist in the same realm as them. There was fighting and playing and pride in his imagination, and he wanted to make it true. Opening his eyes, he stared up and greeted what was there, the fuzzy image that he couldn't see.

“Hello!”

His vision focused quickly and he saw Buu. He felt rage burning in his chest at the sight of. He saw Bulma and Chi-Chi… He saw his sons, the three of them. He saw his comrades fall, and the people that he had killed out of hatred and envy of another half of himself. He hated and loved himself, everything balanced.

No. He wasn’t ashamed. He was proud of what he was made of.

“Vegeta and Kakarotto combined…”

The two strongest and proudest… And the most pained.

“I guess that makes me ‘Vegito’...” He saw Buu’s black eyes, the ones that held his sons’ power there. Were they his anymore? Were they not more so like his brothers? His brothers… who were taken away from him. “Or maybe..?”

Rage filled his heart more at the thought of his brothers. Gohan had the biggest strain on his heart; seeing his absorbed into Buu not only broke his heart, but it had burned his pride at one of the strongest Saiya-jin being defeated. For Trunks and Goten, Vegeta and Kakarotto were screaming in passion and fury. The light of youth was strong in their blood, their power strong and they wished to keep growing, growing like their fathers wanted to in their youth.

Light came around Vegito, his _ki_ flaring outwards. Why was everything taken from them? From him? Everything he had been hoping for, the life he’d have with Vegeta and Kakarotto; it was nothing without the rest of his family, his brothers.

“Super Vegito!”

Buu came flying towards him, shooting out a ki blast, and Vegito dodged it easily. He felt Vegeta pushing him forward, urging him to beat the creature, to have it suffer as he and Kakarotto had.

Buu snarled and lunged forward towards Vegito. The other dodged quickly kicked the other in the face. Vegito smiled at the thought of breaking bone, feeling it give way beneath his leg. The thought of blood excited him, more than Goku thought possible. He nor Kakarotto interfered though. He let Vegito continue staring up at Buu with not feeling of fear in his heart.

“Your nose is bleeding. You were better off without one.”

Buu grunted slightly, smirking. “The more you anger me, the more you will suffer before your die.”

Vegito rushed forward, delivering a punch that managed to throw Buu off balance in the air. He seized a flailing leg and dove. Down they fell, until Vegito let go, letting the demon crash with an explosion of sound and rock. The disappearance of Buu let his heart rest a moment, and Vegito noticed that his own heart was different than that of Vegeta or Goku. Kakarotto was much closer to what he was originally.

A bright pink emerged from the rock and Vegito calmly swung his arm out, like a guillotine, and sent down a ki blast. Ita plasma solidified into a blade just before it reached Buu, piercing through his abdomen. “Well? Not so talkative now, are you? I thought this would be more fun. I want to fight for real.”

He felt Goku and Vegeta urging him to continue, to not give Buu a chance to escape. Vegito, however, in his first minutes of life, wanted to play a game.

Buu groaned, a scowl on his face.

“Or was this for real? Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude.”

Buu slipped off of the ki blade. He growled, seam escaping from the burr-like holes in his head. His vision blocked, Vegito closed his eyes. He could hear Buu taunting him for his inability to be seen. Vegeta smiled, focusing on the demon’s energy. Goku was proud.

'There!'

He rushed forward and delivered a few kicks that shook the demon’s core, giving Vegito an opportunity to tear off the long antenna that came from the back of Buu’s head. In the smoke, Vegito saw Buu with blood rolling down his lips.

“The trick is to feel the movement of ki. You can’t keep up with me because you try to follow with your eyes.” Buu snarled at him, especially as Vegito threw up the antenna in the air and shot out a ki blast, incinerating it.

“I’ll do that to the rest of you later. You can generate if you’re disintegrated.”

“Curse you!”

Vegito smiled. "Sorry. I'm surprised. I thought you'd be stronger." He soon dispatched of the ghosts that Buu created, grimacing briefly at the use of Gotenks' attack.

Being turned into a candy wasn't all that harrowing. If anything, it was more exciting. Buu couldn't land a punch on him, and all for his own stupid mistake to think that his power couldn't transcend a transformation. Did he not know that he was the creation of Vegeta and Kakarotto, the ones who had posed a threat to Buu's previous incarnations?

Vegito frowned, getting bored.

"I'll beat you in 10 seconds, Buu. I'll even count for you."

At least Buu actually thought for once.

For a moment, Vegito was aware that Buu had absorbed him, the force field of _ki_ protecting him from being assimilated.

Then as he lowered it, he felt Kakarotto and Vegeta press more firmly against his mind. They were pressing so hard! Vegito gripped his head at the pain, a pain greater than he had ever felt, than Kakarotto or Vegeta had ever felt. 

No. His sires had felt it before, the pain of loneliness, but Vegito never had. He was made of togetherness, and now he was falling apart.

" _O-Oto-_ " he found himself crying out, but he didn't know who he was calling out to.

* * *

Goku gasped, breathing horrible air that burned his lungs. His eyes watered slightly at the sensation in his chest, as well as at the feeling in his blood. There was nothing there. There was no companion there, that breathed along with him nor whose heart was always accompanying his. He reached out to Vegeta, trying to not feel lonely again, and he felt tears sting his eyes at the distance he felt. He turned around, his legs shaking slightly and he saw Vegeta.

The older man was shivering, but he was standing. His ki felt lost as well, like something had been ripped away that had been necessary. Black eyes found his, and Goku couldn't think.

"Kakarotto? What happened?" The younger Saiya-jin found himself speechless. He saw Vegeta's eyes change to something more demanding, needy, and suddenly, the older Saiya-jin was crushing Goku's mouth with his own. Their bodies were like fire, growing and feeding each other. Vegeta's hands pulled him close, giving him no room to attempt to escape.

Goku opened his mouth, gasping for breath. Even the horrible air was a balm to the fire that Vegeta was causing in his lungs.

"Kakarotto... What happened?"

"I think- Mmph!" Goku buried his fingers in Vegeta's hair as that same mouth tried to suffocate him again. He turned away, trying to speak. "The air here! It burns! That might be what ruined the fusion!"

Vegeta bit at Goku's neck and looked down at his - partner? Mate? Friend? What were they now - at Goku. He pushed away slowly, face stern.

"What was that fusion then? Oh, it burns..." Vegeta muttered, coughing.

"... I don't know," Goku whispered, matching the other's tone. He thought back to it, the fusion.

Something had been born, something strong and prideful and oh, so longing. It was longing for something and it was still there, it was still squirming inside of his heart. This creature that had been born wanted to live, and Goku certainly did want it to live too. His blood was calling for it, and it was calling for Vegeta too. Was Vegeta's blood calling for Goku's? Did it want that life - the one that called itself Vegito - to live too? It had been the one time that the two Saiya-jin had understood and accepted one another and Goku had found himself wanting more, more in that space that seemed like reality and where Vegeta had come, pushed his way into the younger Saiya-jin's body. Vegeta hadn't taken advantage of it, though; they were both giving and taking.

"W-What did you think of it?"

"Huh, the fusion?" Vegeta looked to his younger counterpart. There was something in Vegeta's eyes that Goku couldn't read. "I don't know."

"'Don't know'?" Goku frowned. He had liked it, certainly. It reminded him of when he was in the mountains as a child, after his grandfather had died. It was serene, and he didn't feel lonely at all. It was peaceful and perfect, like when he and Vegeta were sparring. There was only push and pull, give and take, and it made sense to him.

What made him wonder was that he had never felt this way with anyone other than Vegeta. It was like when Vegeta was away, the world didn't make sense. Why did his friends get nervous when he smiled or grew more serious? He remembered them getting that way when he still had his tail-

"You and I are Saiya-jin, Kakarotto." Vegeta turned to him and beckoned him to bring his head lower. Goku complied and their foreheads were pressed together. At that, Goku felt something that wasn't his.

There was anxiety, apprehension, lack of trust, even some fear, and a thought passed by of him, of "Kakarotto," and suddenly, respect, fear, trust, anger, pride, and liking filled him. He didn't notice that he was kissing Vegeta again until he felt that he wasn't tasting something that he should be tasting, his tongue looking for it, for Vegeta.

'A bond...' he heard in his mind, and it was Vegeta's voice. 'We're connected in the way that only mates are.'

Goku hummed at the thought. Goku did love Chi-Chi. She would get mad at his lack of understanding, but she'd calm down later and explain to him, and she'd let him explain. When they touched each other, they were warm, and several times, that had led to the same feelings and same actions that eventually ended up with Gohan and Goten being born.

The same heartbeat in his chest... It was like when he and Vegeta fought for the first time. There was something in Vegeta that Goku needed, and it was something he wanted. He loved the challenge that Vegeta brought him, and it made him want to always get stronger, in the same way that Vegeta always wanted to get stronger. 

He had never felt this connection to Chi-Chi; maybe something close to it.

'Mates...?'

His voice curled over Vegeta's mind and he felt pleasure from Vegeta at his use of the bond.

'Yes. I'm surprised I didn't notice this before.'

Goku smiled and kissed Vegeta again, ignoring the fact that these feelings had been there all along.

A sound reminiscent of steam made its way to their ears and both Saiya-jin ran towards it. The scent of their children caught their noses and they understood where they were.

They quickly found the strange pods that held their children and Piccolo. Vegeta even made a show of boasting when Buu appeared and told them not to remove the Large Buu that they had met initially. Vegeta ripped Buu's pod out of its spot while the Buu they had been fighting outside disappeared.

As they flew to find a way to escape, Goku noticed that the air seemed to get clearer and his heart was burning again, burning for Vegeta.

"Vegeta," he groaned out, feeling the Potara that was still on his ear activate again. His ki was flaring upwards as they found an opening to the outside.

"Kakarotto, keep going!" Goku looked back to his rival. Vegeta seemed worn down now, breathing as heavily as Goku was now.

As they managed to breathe their first gasp of clean air, the Potara began to glow and Goku felt himself losing his grip. He reached for his sons, but he felt Vegeta against him and his mind went blank.

He heard a voice that sounded like his and Vegeta's, mixed together. Vegeta's voice told him to hurriedly grab their allies, and Goku interjected that they needed to grab Dende and Hercule as well.

Vegito listened.


	3. Mania

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Tags: Rimming, (Mention of) Raditz x Vegeta

Vegito reached out for the multiple pods that his fathers had gathered from the inside of Buu. He looked upon the faces there - Buu, Piccolo, Trunks, Goten, and Gohan - and he found that, like he had thought previously, the three half-breeds were his brothers.

Piccolo was Kakarotto's friend. He was the creature that raised his oldest brother in the mountains, the one that taught him the basics of fighting when their own father was dead, killed in the process of defeating their uncle. He was the occasional confidante to Vegeta when the loneliness of being the last Pure-Blooded Saiya-jin that they had knowledge of in all of existence grew great. A lonely Saiya-jin and a lonely Nameku-jin; it made sense to console in kindred loneliness. 

He felt the presence of Buu behind him. Landing on a small plateau, Vegito set the pods down and used little  _ki_ in dissolving the material that they were composed of. "Hey, wake up."

Gohan was rubbing his eyes while Piccolo was standing. The Nameku-jin stared at Vegito, as though he were something that the green creature couldn't decipher-

'Wait... that makes sense.'

"Who are you?" Piccolo asked, and Gohan looked up to Vegito. Those large innocent eyes that Vegito knew well - having both Vegeta's and Goku's memories to look at - were gazing up at him in confusion. He noticed those eyes shift focus to something on Vegito's head.

Piccolo nodded and chuckled. "Desperate times..."

"Yep!" Vegito smiled somewhat shyly. He knew of everything his sires did to create him, including those strange feelings that he was separate from feeling. Piccolo probably understood the reason better than he did.

"Those earrings..." Gohan stood, eyebrows down in discontent. " _Oto-san_ had those. Why do you-"

"Kakarotto used them with Vegeta." Vegito let out a soft laugh. "To think they'd do something together..." He knew them the best, so he could understand the humor better than anyone else.

"And? Where are they?" Gohan rushed towards Vegito, grabbing the other man's shirt. "What did you do with Vegeta-san and  _Oto-san_?!"

"They're all right, I assure you. We need to hurry! Grab Goten and Trunks, and-" Vegito felt his blood grow cold, and he looked to the monster that he had just emerged from. Buu, now looking much smaller than before, was glaring out into the sky. The pink creature let out a shout, one that had Gohan and Vegito covering their ears and one that woke up Goten and Trunks.

"What's going on?!" Trunks cried, jumping to his feet. Goten covered his ears and ran to Gohan, his little hands gripping onto Gohan's pants.

" _Nii-chan_ , what's going on?"

Vegito watched as Buu grew quiet and put out his hand. A ball of  _ki_ began to gather there, and Vegito began to gather one of his own.

"What's he doing?" Gohan asked.

Buu threw down his arm, and Vegito quickly launched his  _ki_ blast to intercept Buu's. The resulting explosion held enough energy to make Vegito, his brothers, and Piccolo root themselves to their spots.

"He doesn't want to fight now! He's trying to destroy the world!" Vegito growled, watching as Buu created another, even larger _ki_ blast. He reached for Gohan, who shouted in earnest surprise. Trunks grabbed for Gohan's other leg. "Piccolo, grab that large Buu and grab on to me!"

Piccolo turned and grimaced at the larger form of Buu, the one that they had seen protect Mr. Satan. He grasped the large Buu by his arm and grabbed Vegito's arm with his free hand.

"Let's go!" Vegito felt Gohan seize his wrist in return as they began to fly, away from the large orb of energy that was currently being let loose. The small boys were holding onto Gohan with all of their might, crying out at Vegito's speed.

'Shit! Where did Dende and Mr. Satan go?!' Vegito snarled as he tried to feel out with his  _ki_. If Earth's God was lost, they'd lose the Dragon Balls and nothing would be reversed!

"Vegito!" The young Saiyan focused on the new voice, and there he saw the fusion of Kaio-Shin- _sama_ and Kibito, holding onto a young Nameku-jin and a teary-eyed human. He heard Kakarotto shout something, and Vegeta supported the thought, urging Vegito to hurry!

"Kaio-Shin- _sama_! To your world!"

"Of course!"

Kaio-Shin- _sama_ disappeared from sight, and after raising his fingers to his forehead, Vegito followed.

* * *

The world that they landed on was familiar to Goku, and he told Vegeta what he knew about it.

'The Kaio World is where Gohan was training after Buu knocked him out!' Goku pressed kisses to Vegeta's spine as he showed him the memories of watching Gohan swing the Z-Sword, of how the damn thing broke, and suddenly an older Kaio-Shin, the Daikaio-Shin, appeared.

Vegeta let out a deep purr from his chest. He shared with Goku the memories of his fight with Buu, seeing that Gohan was defeated, and his last resort. The pain had overwhelmed him, but he had only thought of his small family...

... and Goku.

Vegeta flipped them over and Goku let his head fall back, feeling sharp fangs pierce his throat and the slick cock of Vegeta enter him again. They moved and writhed against each other, a strong pain at the base of their backs spiking and making that pleasure between them more masochistic than before. Their powers coalesced, and they disappeared.

* * *

Vegito sat on one of the rocks that was on the Kaio World, letting everyone go.

"There we go... Good plan, you two." Vegito whispered to himself, and his sires were glad. He turned and smiled at Kaio-Shin, who smiled at him, impressed. "Kaio-Shin- _sama_ , there might be a possibility that Buu could come here. You, Dende- _kami-sama_ , and Daikaio- _sama_ need to leave."

Kaio-Shin nodded, while Daikaio-Shin mumbled something about how stubborn the Saiya-jin were, before grabbing his charges and disappearing.

"What do we do now?" Vegito heard, before feeling a pull at his gi. Looking down, he saw Goten, fear in the dark eyes of his youngest elder brother. "What do we do,  _nii_ - _san_?"

Vegito knelt down and patted the small boy's head. "We fight when Buu comes. Maybe... a  _Genki Dama_ will work..."

Vegito looked up to the sky and shouted, "Dende _-kami-sama_! Can you hear me?"

[Yes, I hear you, Vegito!] Gohan looked to the sky.

"Vegito..?"

"Go to New Namek! See how fast we can get the Dragon Balls together! After that, we wish for Earth to come back and for all non-evil people that were killed after the Tenkaiichi Budokai back to life. From there, we make make the  _Genki Dama!_ "

[Of course! It may take a while, and I don't know if we can revive more than one person with them just yet! I'll hurry!]

Gohan heard the silence again as Dende disappeared from their hearing, and he watched as his younger brother wander over to the stranger - Vegito. His  _ki_ felt like his father's and Vegeta's mixed together. Was it a fusion, then? His father and Vegeta had fused into this new and powerful thing...

But what did those earrings mean?

* * *

' _Genki Dama..?_ '

'It would- Hah...' Vegeta tried to speak, but the bites and soft kisses on his body were making him lose focus. He buried his fingers in Goku's hair, pulling him down to make the younger male cover his cock with that hot wet mouth that was now gently sucking on the tip.

'What, Vegeta?' Kakarotto stopped and pulled himself away, giving a kiss to Vegeta's hip.

'It'd make the Earthlings fight for themselves, for one, and it'd be enough energy to definitely incinerate this beast. It'd have the same amount of  _ki_ in relation to Buu's new size and power as Vegito's did for the small bit of Buu that he's already destroyed.' Vegeta let out a shout as his mate brought his lips around the tip of Vegeta's cock again and suckled gently.

Kakarotto, pleased and also feeling that wonderful purring in response, began to kiss ever lower, coming to Vegeta's own entrance. He kissed the hole that clenched instinctually, smelling the strangeness of Vegeta. There was nothing here but their bodies of light, and nothing of reality could hinder them. There was no sweat, even, no matter how hard Kakarotto was trying to bring Vegeta closer to the edge; when Goku licked his way into Vegeta's lithe body, he tasted Vegeta and nothing else.

'Ka-!' Vegeta couldn't talk right anymore. He was pouting, Kakarotto saw when he pulled away from that now wet hole. Kakarotto found himself sneering back and pounding his hands down on either side of Vegeta's head. Memories - very brief - flashed through his head, of Raditz positioned like this above Vegeta, when there was only pain and yelling and don'thurtme. Raditz held Vegeta like this, never entering that smaller body, if only to comfort, to say "Yes, we live under tyranny; it was never meant to be like this."

There was loneliness in the memories of Raditz and Vegeta, but that was gone with Kakarotto and Vegeta. As Vegeta let his younger mate enter him, he felt power race along his spine, and he knew that Vegito was fighting so hard to achieve the plan that Vegeta had thought of. Goku poured every bit of power and love that he had into Vegeta with each thrust, and Vegeta found himself giving that back; an endless circuit between the two of them, and in their eyes, they saw their powerful offspring, Vegito, defeating the monster that had led to the end of them both.

They were separate and together, and they were and were not Vegito.

When Kakarotto released inside of Vegeta, Vegeta felt the powerful jaws of his mate clamp themselves down on his neck. With that, he grabbed Kakarotto's wrist and mirrored the action, feeling the ghostly sinews almost give way under the force. That liquid light again pooled in their mouths, and Vegeta wanted more of it. Here, they were light and watching it spill from such lethal...  _mortal_ parts of their phantasm bodies, it was alluring, tempting. To have himself ripped open by the only person that he knew never would but could, had the power to, and to trust him not to do so... It was something that had never been felt by the Prince before, and he wanted it.

He thought of Vegito as they finished their peak, and he realized that this Vegito, this fusion born, was what he had wanted to pass on. He had wanted Trunks to follow his strength, if in Kakarotto's footsteps as a protector, and pride. Vegito was all of that, and he felt his mate's thoughts echo this. Vegito was all the heroism, cleverness, strength, and pride that they were...

He was their hearts combined.

* * *

 

Vegito had built up the  _Genki Dama_ while his brothers, Piccolo, and eventually the Large Buu fought against the Small Buu, buying him time. Mister Satan helped rally the people of Earth together, to have them give their energy to the  _Genki Dama_. When he launched it, urging his family out of the way, he felt the surge of powerful love from his fathers. They were not just loving each other.

They were loving him. They were proud, and they were happy.

Vegito closed his eyes - and he'd later tell Goten that it was because of the brightness of that attack - at the feeling.

It was strange, having two people inside of his body and still being his own person. He loved himself and felt loved and proud and not lonely and if he could have the rest of his family with him, it'd be everything that he would want.

Vegito flew down to the destroyed land where his attack fell, looking for any sign of the Small Buu, reaching out with his own  _ki._

Nothing.

There was nothing.

Vegito sighed and closed his eyes. He thought of all that they had lost and regained, failed and saved; between the three of them, Kakarotto, Vegeta, and Vegito had saved the Universe, and Vegito felt happy about that.

He let out a yawn; it was a pretty eventful day for just being born about 25 minutes ago, and having disappeared in that time frame made it all the more exhausting.

"Vegito..?" He turned and saw Gohan walking towards him, Goten, Trunks, and Piccolo following. Their faces were filthy, but their eyes were bright. Gohan smiled at him, and Vegito felt a strange pain in his chest. From Vegeta's memories, he knew that the smile on his eldest brother's face was just like their father's...

"That was amazing!" Gohan praised, Goten running forward and hugging Vegito's leg. Vegito smiled down at him and gazed into the mirror image of Kakarotto's face, one that he remembered seeing in glances at mirrors or with an almost vengeful admiration.

He would never see Kakarotto in front of him, and neither Vegeta.

His brothers who knew their fathers would remember those faces, but Vegito was much like Goten; they would never truly know their fathers as fathers.

"We should get back to the Sanctuary. Everyone's probably waiting for us there."

Vegito reached out a hand to his brothers and Piccolo, and they disappeared from the Kaio World, Vegito's fears chasing him all the while.


	4. Rage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody.
> 
> Thanks for your support on my stories, because it really keeps me going.

At the Sanctuary, Vegito saw as his brothers ran to their mothers, Piccolo following them to meet with their friends.

Their friends, not Vegito's.

Vegito sighed as the feeling of happiness from Kakarotto and camaraderie from Vegeta flooded through him. They filled him with reassurance as he decided, yes, he could explain what had happened, and why "Goku" and "Vegeta" wouldn't be around anymore in the traditional sense. They would be inside of him and they could communicate through him; they wouldn't be far away from anyone.

The Large Buu smiled at him. "Do they have snacks?"

Satan smiled and patted the Majin's arm. "I'm sure we could find something- Videl!" The human ran to his daughter, who hugged them in return. Vegito's heart twisted itself again in his chest, to which Vegeta and Kakarotto responded to in soft, stern warmth and the strange encouragement that everything would be all right. He took in a deep breath and put on the smile that Kakarotto so often wore when he was trying to be happy in front of everybody.

"Wait! Why is Buu here?!" Chi-Chi cried out, grabbing Goten and holding him close in her arms.

"Whoa! Calm down, Chi-Chi!" It was strange to say his mother's name, but Vegito found it welcome on his tongue. He held out his hands in a truce, and the woman looked at him in surprise and then confusion. "He helped up defeat the Buu that killed everyone else. He and Satan are friends, so he won't hurt anyone anymore."

The woman blinked and looked up to Gohan, who nodded in affirmation. She looked over at Vegito.

"Then who are you..?"

Vegito opened his mouth, but Gohan stepped forward. "This is Vegito." Gohan placed a hand on Vegito's shoulder, and for a moment, Vegito wanted to embrace his older brother, to feel the same kind of embraces that Kakarotto had from the oldest half-Saiya-jin. " _Oto-san_ and Vegeta- _san_ fused, and Vegito is the fusion."

Gohan smiled at him. "It's been about half an hour now, right?"

Trunks ran towards Vegito. "Yeah, my dad is going to be here, right?" The boy's blue eyes were bright and happy, because Vegito had felt Vegeta come back to life inside of his body and he knew that Trunks had felt that as well.

Vegito lowered his head, unable to meet anyone's eyes. Not all of the support that Kakarotto and Vegeta were giving him now could make him less anxious.

"I am the result of a different kind of Fusion..." he began. He gestured to one of the earrings, the one from Vegeta. " _Daikaio-shin-sama_ gave Kakarotto these earrings, the Potara. These allow two beings to fuse. It doesn't require any change in power levels to accomplish, not like the Fusion Dance, but it does have a cost to both involved."

"Like what?" Vegito looked up and saw blue eyes looking with concern at him. Bulma's eyes were desperate, hopeful, caring, and everything that both Kakarotto and Vegeta had seen directed at either one of them before. The only different thing was the kind of love that he saw in the light blue eyes, and it made his heart hurt even more. Both of his mothers would be hurt, and it was all because he had been born to avenge them.

"The fusion itself is permanent. Kakarotto and Vegeta cannot be separated, but-"

Vegito didn't flinch as Gohan's hand fell away from him. Vegito watched as Bulma's face froze, and it began to crumble into that familiar crying face that Kakarotto remembered from when Vegeta had died and that Vegeta had never seen before in regards to him. He turned to see Chi-Chi, who fell to her knees. Goten was pushing her shoulders slightly, trying to stop her shaking. Goten looked to Vegito, confusion evident in the dark eyes. Vegito sighed.

"Papa isn't coming back?" Trunks frowned; Vegito felt the boy's  _ki_ begin to flare upwards. "That's not fair! My papa came back! Why does he have to be part of you?"

Vegito felt Vegeta push upwards from inside of him and he felt his mouth move, and his voice was different in tone. "Either it was this, or everything would still be destroyed, Trunks! Bulma, your grandparents, everyone would be dead!"

Gohan grabbed Vegito's arm. "Don't yell at him. He just wants to know why he's lost his dad..." Those fingers squeezed a bit more tightly. "I just lost mine, too... Again."

Vegeta was pushed down as Vegito's hand laid itself over Gohan's. "Hmm."

'At least you have gotten to know them as fathers.'

Kakarotto had nothing to say. There was shame in his heart, and Vegito also felt some resentment to his father. However, death meant salvation before. It meant that Gohan could have a normal life and they were all safe. Goten had a safe world to grow up in and Trunks had his mother.

Gohan had both Kakarotto and later Vegeta to care for him at some point.

Vegito had had no one.

"I know that my  _oto-san_ is still there," Gohan continued. "He needs to know that we still need him... as Son Goku."

"And I need my Papa back!" Trunks growled, his blue eyes growing watery with tears.

Vegito felt anger growing in his chest, brushing away Gohan's hand. He wasn't needed, but they didn't need to keep reminding him that he was born out of necessity at first. The love between Kakarotto and Vegeta kept him whole and safe and feeling like he was something more. "I told you, this is permanent! I don't know how else to explain this to you!"

Gohan growled, leaving Vegito only a moment before Gohan grabbed the front of the Fusion's  _gi_. "Then take us to Daikaio-Shin-sama! He has to know something!  _Oto-san_ can't be gone again after he left us for so long, just because he was afraid!"

Vegito blinked. Kakarotto was shaking in his chest, shocked at Gohan's words. Vegeta shouted at the logic that the young man held, but Vegito remembered Vegeta's pain when he was the only pure-blood Saiya-jin on Earth.

"You resent your father, don't you?" Vegito spoke clearly but softly, enough that Gohan was the only one to hear. Gohan's black eyes widened, but there was no negation.

Kakarotto had fought so many people as a child, more than he should have as a boy that grew up in such an isolated part of the world. He was much like Vegeta in that sense, growing up in a structureless world, being thrown into a structure, and making enemies along the way. Kakarotto had wanted to keep his family and friends safe...

That's why Gohan had to become so strong, so he could take Kakarotto's place. Gohan had done only good, and it'd been done away from the public eye. Gohan would be safe and strong and be a hero, but he'd have no enemies that could target the family again. 

"How dare your father know nothing of his past, the world that sent him here, and how dare he not be there for you when he could have killed you if he couldn't control that darkness that every Saiya-jin has." Vegito reached for Gohan's  _gi_ and lifted his brother away from him, lifting him up from the floor of the Sanctuary.

"Let him go!" Vegito turned to see Chi-Chi standing, fury evident in her eyes. "What are you? You are not my Goku- _sa_!"

"Shut up, you damn woman! I am Vegito!" Vegito threw Gohan down, ignoring Kakarotto and Vegeta screaming in his mind for him to calm down. "I'm not Kakarotto, nor am I Vegeta!

"I am born from them, and only if they wish it, will they end me!"

Piccolo hurried to Gohan's side, helping him up. Vegito turned again to Gohan, eyes focused and fierce.

"Well, then, little prince. What do you think of me? Are you going to do? Have your mother fight your battles for you?" He stepped towards his eldest brother.

Gohan pushed Piccolo away and his power grew. "Oka-san is right. You're not Son Goku, but you're not Vegeta-san either. You're something horrible that is the result of the Fusion!"

"You'd like to think that, Gohan? I'm the strongest, the proudest; I'm everything that Kakarotto and Vegeta have ever wanted to be, and I won't let you have them back. I won't let you destroy what they wanted!" Vegito fell back into a stance which Gohan mirrored.

"Whatever the Hell you are, you are not keeping my  _Oto-san_ from me!" Gohan ran forward, so fast that Vegito was indeed impressed and scooted out of the way at the last minute. As he saw Gohan's shocked face, he took the chance to tangle one hand in the boy's shirt and send a strong punch forward to break his brother's nose. The sight of the red blood set Vegito's mind backwards, to something before words or ideas; there were only feelings, only rage. Gohan sent his knee into Vegito's stomach, but it truly didn't make him move. "We... need him..."

"Now you need him, just because you were too weak and you didn't want to get stronger. You, who defeated Cell." Vegito sent his fist against Gohan's cheek and smiled as he felt some of the bone give way under his knuckles. He let out a small purr at the scent of blood, but he couldn't keep ignoring the screaming from Kakarotto at the fact that his oldest and youngest were fighting.

"I can't believe now, that you are Son Goku's son. I can't believe that he raised you in a way that left you so weak."

A rushing headache almost knocked Vegito off of his feet; Kakarotto was so angry with what he just said that the pain of him screaming was enough to let Gohan loose from his grip. With that, Vegito raised his hand to his head, fingers against his temple. Gohan fell to the floor of the Sanctuary and looked to where Vegito had stood, but the space where he stood was empty.

* * *

Goku was laying his head in Vegeta's lap, letting his mate pet his hair.

'They're so upset, Vegeta.'

'Let them be.' Vegeta let a small purring echo in his chest, and Goku let his eyes close, humming at the comforting sound. 'What can we do? Let Buu eat us and spit us back out? Have Vegito die as well? You can't deny that some of what Vegito said rang a chord with you. Though, it seems both boys need more discipline.'

Goku cuddled closer into Vegeta's lap. He shivered at the thought of separation again. When he was a boy, he had always been lonely. None of his friends had understood the love he had for fighting, his need to grow stronger, or the singular mindframe that he possessed; when Kuririn had been killed by Tambourine, it was his only focus, even if he had saved the world in the process. When he and Chi-Chi were learning each other's bodies, her face underneath his was soft and filled with such abandonment that he wanted to tear into her and be lost and whole again.

Was that why he had let Chi-Chi coddle Gohan so much? He knew that this child came from him, that the night that he and Chi-Chi had had sex, Gohan had been made, but there was something that he didn't quite understand, according to Chi-Chi. This boy was his son, but he treated him more like a friend, a fellow boy, or a successor. When Gohan called him  _oto-san_ , Goku had shivered. There was something in his blood that didn't understand it; he was meant to fight, to leave behind a child to carry his blood and his legacy, not have to teach the child how to leave those things behind. 

Then, he'd met Vegeta. He remembered his heart being so excited. There was only knowing that this other man understood him. Perhaps that's why they had only met once when training for the battle with the cyborgs; that night had changed everything and it left them here, with Goku's decision solidifying their loneliness for the next eight years. He remembered the fire, the broken bones, and the fear at possibly losing Vegeta when Kuririn had picked up that sword of Yajirobe, and he had begged for Vegeta's life. He had blamed it on his Saiya-jin blood, as if it was the answer that would explain everything. Vegeta's anger sent his heart racing, as well as their obsessions with one another. He curled against Vegeta and purred softly, wanting the other inside of him again if just to make the thought of loneliness leave him again.

Vegeta had stopped petting his hair, and the both of them hummed as they felt Vegito land on the same planet that Goku had trained to handle the rage that slept in every Saiya-jin's heart.

'Yaadorato?'

'He'll be safe here,' Goku whispered, sitting up enough to kiss his mate sweetly. 'He'll learn to calm that rage.'

'And what of Gohan?'

'...' Goku bit his lip and sighed. 'He'll have to learn, too.'

They saw the world of Yaadorato with Vegito's eyes and to Vegeta, it seemed alien; to Goku, it felt like hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Looking at Saiya-jin society (based on Bardock: Father of Goku, Vegeta's and Goku's behaviors, and on some of the Dragon Ball Super manga), I have surmised that the society is very much like Spartan society, with a bit of a polygamous/polyandrous primate motif thrown in. Goku and Vegeta are not very active in teaching their children anything besides fighting. This is logical as they are a race of survivors, moving from Planet Salad to Planet Plant after internal chaos, using their natural abilities to take over Plant, and eventually to seek patronage from the Acro-jin who saw value in their strength. If anything, their society resembles Sparta, in that the males are trained to be fighters from childhood (the Spartan boys joined the military at age 8), and primate societies have the goal of passing on genes of strength. 
> 
> This could even be the reason that Goku has the desire to be the strongest, followed soon after by Vegeta. Goku was the only Saiya-jin on Earth; without his goal to obliterate humanity, his blood focused on its other base instinct - to grow strong and pass on his genes. After Gohan, he seems lax about training and is content with living on Mt Paozu. (He does get stronger from naturally living and kicking down trees in the forest.) After Raditz, Vegeta, and so on, he actively pursues strength, due to the natural instinct of searching for security and safety. 
> 
> Vegeta, having been the strongest Saiya-jin for so long, act superior to Raditz and Nappa (with good reasoning) but does seek to grow stronger than Freeza. After being defeated by Goku, he is not only threatened in pride, but also by biology. There is no chemistry to go on (besides physical) for Vegeta and Bulma to have Trunks, unless you look at it by competition. Goku and Bulma are friends, and based on Akira Toriyama's words, Saiya-jin are promiscuous by nature. Goku could have had Bulma at anytime by Saiya-jin culture, but Vegeta saw the chance and took it. He is incredibly strong and Bulma is incredibly intelligent; this is an ideal combination for Vegeta's progeny.
> 
> Now imagine all the strength of Goku, his personality, which is much more laid back, and his intelligence that's focused towards battle; this is an even more ideal combination with Vegeta's DNA. Goku can pick things up after seeing things one time, something Vegeta cannot always do, and Goku gets absurd zenkais when he almost dies. This is a survivor's game, and it takes combining with another kind of survivor to win the game.
> 
> Hence, Vegito.
> 
> *I have a passionate love for Saiya-jin! Kakarotto, that being Goku acting like an asshole Saiya-jin, but still acting with most of Goku's morals and goals. This will become evident with Vegito's backstory. (Yes, there's more of a backstory.)


	5. Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goku and Vegeta from the past. :D

Goku found himself in the open sky and smiling as the light of sunset kissed his skin. He'd finished training with Gohan and sent Gohan to train with Piccolo, telling him that meditation was rather important as well. The clouds were gathering, but that didn't bother him at all. Goku breathed in the cool air that smelt like the beginning of lightning, and his body began to tingle at the scent of challenge that the energy came with.

As the first drops of rain began to fall, the sun still visible, Goku touched down on one of the mountains far from his own home. It was a nice place; it was the place where he had fought Vegeta and felt like home. It was strange to think of it like that, but this place, meeting Vegeta... The world finally made sense, because there was someone that understood home. In the end, Vegeta would have chosen death rather than be defeated by Goku.

'But he didn't kill me when he had the chance.' Goku sat cross-legged on the stones, sighing calmly. He remembered every _ki_ blast, laceration, bruise, and broken bone that day only two and a half years ago; he found himself still thinking that. Vegeta could have killed him at any time if that was really his goal.

Vegeta had wanted to beat him, torture him, make him submit.

When Goku did, Vegeta had started to play, crushing him in gargantuan hands that reminded Goku of the deaths that he had caused as well. How many people had he hurt as an Oozaru?

Killed?

When it came down to it, he was angry at Gohan and Kuririn for interfering. He wanted a good fight, an amazing fight, and he finally got what he wanted; he got it from somebody that was just like him.

Vegeta could have killed him at any time if that really was his goal.

Vegeta had smiled when Goku finally gave him a challenge; the Prince was happy when his lowest and only charge finally made him have to take action. Goku had done his best, but even his best was weaker than Vegeta, and he was so happy. After this fight, he would be even stronger and if he fought Vegeta again, then maybe he could beat the older Saiya-jin. Maybe they would get stronger together, fighting and healing, an eternal game.

Kuririn had raised that sword, and Goku had cried out.

'When I saw that you were gonna kill 'im,' he had whispered to Kuririn, his words curling over Kuririn's mind and sinking into every crevice that they could - a prayer. 'I thought, 'What a waste'...'

As Goku thought those words, he had realized something. His blood had told him when the marrow of his legs had sunken into his muscles and his liver was bleeding slowly into his abdomen; with the amount of damage that he had gotten, it was no surprise that the doctors had to later take out his spleen, the organ nodular and broken in his gut.

He had realized something that his blood knew, and his heart too.

Vegeta was his.

He belonged to Vegeta.

They were the last ones that they knew of their kind, the last Saiya-jin. They were of a species that survived and fought and loved the taste of blood in their mouths when a hit made their tongue cut itself on their fangs. Goku would only be understood by Vegeta, and Vegeta by Goku.

'What a waste...'

Goku opened his eyes and saw that the sky was a dark grey, the sun gone with its orange and golden hues. The rain was well through soaking his  _gi_ and his undershirt. The water had not gotten into his boots just yet, which saved Goku the discomfort of warm and wet feet.

He closed his eyes and kept them that way for a while. The soft thunder being born in the clouds was like a lullaby, a lullaby that reminded him of his grandfather's heart beat.

'Did I just crush him?'

He tried to remember how his grandfather had looked when Goku had found him. Son Gohan had barely any blood on him, save for what had come out of his mouth long before Goku had found him. He did seem flatter than before, but it was not terribly so. Goku remembered the whites of his eyes; they were red. Tears had come from those familiar, warm eyes, tears that left marks on the old man's face.

'That's all I did?'

Goku had buried the body under their favorite apple tree, the one that now stood outside his little house where he lived with Chi-Chi and Gohan, the boy named after the man that had taught him so many little things.

Goku smiled. Learning to fish, to clean the meat; Gohan had taught him how to sew, how to clean, and many little things that Chi-Chi told him not to do because it wasn't his job to do them. He had learnt to do little reading and little math because Gohan had said that those things really didn't matter. It was important in all ways to be a good warrior.

To be just, to be brave, to have mercy, to be polite, to be sincere, to have honor, to be loyal, to have self-control; that was what Gohan had taught him, to be one of action rather than inaction.

He thought of Vegeta again. Vegeta held a regal posture whenever he moved, whenever he spoke, whenever he breathed; he was everything that Goku wanted to see. It was as if he was seeing him again for the first time; whenever he saw Vegeta, his heart would throb and beat with joy.

Even now, the Prince was more even-tempered, softer but stronger. He'd raise strong children, maybe stronger than Goku's.

'It will be better this way...'

He knew it would be.

Goku opened his eyes, squinting a bit against the rain to keep the water from obscuring his vision. He felt a familiar energy nearby, but it was so angry. He looked to the direction of that energy and he ignored that pick-up in speed of his heartbeat. His mind grew cloudy and he shivered.

'Vegeta.'

The older male was soon near him, flying in the sky above him. Goku swallowed, his mouth suddenly as dry as the day was when they fought here when they had met. Vegeta was probably glaring down at him; there wasn't any lightning yet so Goku couldn't even catch glimpses of the man, which was probably for the best. They hadn't been alone together in such a long time, not since they were preparing to fight Ginyu and Vegeta had ditched him.

"Oi, Vegeta."

"Kakarotto." The energy came close, and Vegeta's smell was right in front of Goku and he was gettinig dizzy now.

"Whatcha need, Vegeta? Wanna spar with me?" Goku put his arm behind his head in the usual way that he did when he got a bit embarrassed or couldn't find the right words to say.

Vegeta huffed and Goku understood. He took a few steps back and then put up a blocking arm in front of his face as Vegeta came forward and delivered a kick downwards. Goku smiled, grabbing that ankle just as it began to travel down his forearm due to the angle, and flipped the older male, enough to have Vegeta's back exposed. Goku couldn't make out every muscle, but he'd certainly spent enough time watching the movements as the man walked to have a wonderfully greedy idea of what it must look like in the darkly-lit sky.

He delivered a sharp kick to that broad back, one that had Vegeta coughing by the time that Goku swung him down to the rocks beneath them.

"Are you okay, Vegeta?"

"I'm not getting stronger!" The Prince pulled away the moment Goku's grip loosened on his ankle, and Goku jumped away at the low kick that Vegeta had tried to land on him.

"Vegeta... You're always training alone," Goku offered as explanatiioin. "Maybe if we train together-"

A  _ki_ blast to his face told him otherwise. It certainly caught him off-guard, enough to have him tumble to a stop several meters away.

"You think I'm so basic?!" Vegeta's voice was raspy, lungs still trying to get enough air into themselves. "The Saiya-jin learnt to evolve beyond that trifling teamwork! It got us nowhere! How do you think we ended up under Freeza's rule? We wanted to preserve each other, not ourselves." Goku picked up Vegeta's footsteps just as the first ray of lightning lit the sky for that night. Vegeta was beautiful, the ground giving way under his strong footsteps; it probably helped that the rock was getting softened by the rain.

"Selfish strength helped us rule out the weak, Kakarotto," Vegeta hissed, stepping on Goku's head, and Goku wondered if Vegeta thought that Goku was weak because he was too busy watching him to get up. "That's why you were sent away. Your brother told me your power level. A measly two? I'm surprised your father didn't kill you first."

Goku frowned; this wasn't fun now. Thoughts of his grandfather holding him, loving him, flooded his head, but they didn't stop the unsettled feeling in his heart. He'd never know how his father acted when he was born; was he loved, hated, or pushed aside? These were things he'd never know and he didn't like that.

"Huh." Goku seized that ankle above his head, the opposite from the one that he'd grabbed before, and Vegeta fell at the sharp pull from Goku's arm. Goku crawled over that body, that body that was smaller than his and held the taste of lightning in its blood. His heart was thundering wildly in his chest, and Goku really wanted to fight now. He held Vegeta's face with firm hands, ignoring those protests that came from chapped lips, chapped that Goku now saw in the dimness of laboring energy before it came down as a sharp bolt of energy.

The moment his knuckles came down on the bridge of Vegeta's nose, he felt his heart skip. The bone broke beneath his knuckles, and the smell of blood was almost immediately in the air. Goku let Vegeta try to break his nose, too, but Vegeta was almost too slow for the actions. Goku smiled; he was strong!

"God damn you!" Vegeta's gloves actually tore at his clothes, bringing him close enough that Goku did receive several punches to his abdomen. "You aren't supposed to be alive! If only you'd stay dead!"

"But... You'd be lonely, Vegeta."

Goku caught the next fist that aimed for his jaw this time, probably to shut him up. "You'd never be trying to surpass me. You'd be the last Saiya-jin and Freeza would still be there-"

"Shut up!"

Goku caught that next punch before it hit his chest, and he squeezed both hands in his own, shivering as the fingers were pressed tighter than before, drawing the slightest of winces from the older male. He continued to speak, but it was like his words weren't his own; he never talked like this around other people, not his friends and family.

"And he'd kill you, because you're so weak."

He wanted an amazing fight.

"You bastard!"

Vegeta's face was filled by the light of the storm's energy, and Goku was too busy staring to avoid the headbutt that the other man delivered. It hit him squarely in the nose, and the way that Goku was now tilting his head - he was almost a full half-circle away from Vegeta - the blood was seeping downward into the back of his mouth and the blood was tickling, tempting, his tongue.

At that taste, his heart stopped all together. Energy filled his body, and he was now a being of light.

Being a Super Saiya-jin sometimes overwhelmed him, in both personality and strength. On Yaadorato, he could control it without issue because of the higher gravity making him focus on something besides his anger. This time, though-

"You're so weak, Vegeta, I bet that you would have cried in front of Freeza before. How old were you?"

Vegeta's eyes were vicious and they wanted Goku's blood. They hesitated under the green stare that Goku was told that he had, under the hair that turned into fine light. Goku smiled.

"No wonder you couldn't beat me before, when I wasn't this strong.

"Not-" Vegeta kicked him in the ribs and Goku bowled over at the force. 

"Even-" Vegeta pulled his hands out of Goku's grips and punches were pummeled into him as Vegeta did his best to fight him, the rain and lightning-thunder, kept them company. They didn't really hurt, though. Goku knew that they were hurting Vegeta, all because they didn't hurt Goku.

"Close." Goku pressed two fingers to his forehead and showed up behind Vegeta. He slipped his arms under Vegeta's arms, feeling those shoulder blades dig into his chest muscles. Vegeta cried out in shock, and Goku quickly took a small sniff to smell the rain-covered hair of the person that understood him best.

"Let me go!"

"I will never let you go."

Goku closed his eyes, because he could never tell Vegeta what he meant. He could never tell Vegeta anything; of what they were to Goku, of what the future held, of the mysterious boy that saw them not too long ago. A few months maybe, but Goku was horrible at telling time.

"You're still needed."

"Heh, Kakarotto? For what?" Vegeta gritted his teeth as his shoulders made a small popping noise, but he didn't flinch away from any pain.

'Lie.'

"I need to train with you."

'Lie.'

Goku let Vegeta go, let him fall on his hands and knees in the rain. Goku closed his eyes.

"Train with me."

If he told Vegeta anything, then Trunks wouldn't be born. They'd have no future at all; Vegeta would die.

He ran away after that, looking for his wife to comfort him, and leaving Vegeta alone in the rain to scream for something that he desired but was denied so often.

An amazing fight.

* * *

Vegeta opened his eyes as the dream that Kakarotto had finally ended, leaving the other's mind at rest. Is that what had happened that night? Kakarotto had been staring at him, but Vegeta had taken that as challenge.

'All for my sake...'

He didn't know what this strange realm was inside of Vegito, but he found that they could sleep. Kakarotto had opened his mind to Vegeta's fully, and he was seeing every dream and memory that the other allowed.

Vegito was indeed his own being, one that was independent of Kakarotto and Vegeta's desires and input.

Vegeta curled more tightly around Kakarotto. Since their first fight, Vegeta had felt admiration - begrudgingly - for the younger male; he was stronger than should be possible for one of their kind, but Vegeta himself was able to surpass that initial barrier as well. That Kakarotto had wanted him since their first fight, even if he didn't completely understand his own feelings, was flattering... enticing...

As he prodded against Vegito's consciousness curiously, he received a tired greeting and a quick synopsis on what had occurred: so much meditation... after destroying the crumbling mountains in the north - all uninhabited  and ready to be crushed under Vegito's wrath.

'You need to calm yourself. You are tired and you need to preserve energy.'

He received a tired happiness in return, and then sleep.

Vegeta buried his own face in his mate's neck. It smelt of home, of sweets that his wife would make, and the different scents his mother would bring from different planets when he was still a toddling at her side. It smelt of raw meat, of strength, and of Kakarotto.

This was fine, and Vegeta let himself go to sleep, leaving all three Saiya-jin to finally sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Saiya-jin remind me of the Bushi-Do Philosophy (The Way of the Warrior). To be just, to be brave, to have mercy, to be polite, to be sincere, to have honor, to be loyal, to have self-control; this would be too short of a way to summarize these. However:  
> Goku is stressed to be polite (when he meets Bulma, for one); he is terribly sincere; he holds honor and pride high; he is very loyal; he shows mercy (if awfully at times) and is fairly just in these situations; he is definitely brace.
> 
> He shows self-control in that there is always a good and bad that he does not have control over the bad stuff that life throws at him or the Earth; he perseveres, using confrontation and compassion, benevolence and belligerence, to save the day.
> 
> The Saiya-jin (mainly Bardock) seem to be much like this. They are fiercely loyal to Freeza. They are just in that they do what they do to survive, and they hold honor and bravery in that regard as well. In sincerity, they use promises and instinct to hold their blood close (like how Raditz was trying to convince Goku, as Vegeta did later). 
> 
> Self-control, Bardock seeing his team dead sealed the deal for self-control to be thrown but kept again when seeking help. Raditz and Vegeta both held off on fighting Goku until they found it necessary to do so.
> 
> *http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/14/the-bushido-code-the-eight-virtues-of-the-samurai/


	6. Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Album, paper, chair, room, safe.

When they arrived home, Gohan had gone to his room and Chi-Chi had gone to the kitchen, shooing Goten off to play. Goten had stood in the doorway as his mother began to cook, watching as her face grew covered with tears. He walked off once her shoulders began to shake, trying to ignore the fact that she was lonely again.

She had never smiled more than when Gohan had mentioned their father coming back from the dead. She started to put more pretty-smelling creams on her face everyday, and she let Gohan out of school so he could train for the Budokai. Goten didn't have to stay inside all day and study when his mother didn't train him, and Gohan smiled more than he had in a long time.

_"Oto-san is an angel, Goten."_

_"Really?"_

_"Yeah. He's kind of ignorant of everything, but he's super smart in battle! He's also really good with animals and other things, like you are."_

_"You think that when Oto-san meets me, he'll like me?"_

_"Of course!"_

Goten sat alone in the living room. He looked through the photo album that Chi-Chi had always told him to be very careful with. On the first page lay two pictures.

On one side was a princess, his mother. On the other was a young boy in a red _dougi_ , a pole strapped to his back and a small pouch at his belt. Goten was always told that that's how his father had looked when he was small; even if his father was apparently fifteen at the time, Goten could see that he and his father looked alike.

As he flipped through the book, Goten saw pictures of his father with his mother, his father rubbing Chi-Chi's swollen belly that had Gohan inside, and his father playing with a baby, toddler, and later, kid version of his older brother.

In every one, Goku had a bright smile, a curious smile, or a shy smile. Every picture was smiles, and even when he had met his father, Goku's smile seemed to be bright, just like Goten knew it would be.

'Because Oto-san is an angel.'

He thought about Vegeta, Trunks' papa.

Vegeta was always really short with his words, and he could be mean without trying. Goten, though, could see that he was trying his best. He looked at Trunks sometimes like he would disappear at any moment. Sometimes, when he spent the night at Capsule Corps, Goten would leave the room that he and Trunks were in to head to the bathroom. Not too often, he'd catch Vegeta wake.

_"Uncle? You're awake?"_

_"Go back to sleep, Goten."_

_"... Uncle? You know my father right?"_

_"... I knew Kakarotto... Goku."_

_"Why do you call him that?"_

_"... It was his name when he was born. It's what I'll always call him... You look just like him."_

_"Is that a good thing?"_

_"... Head to sleep, Goten."_

When Vegeta looked at his father, like he was the most important thing in the world, Goten thought that he had understood now why Vegeta began to watch him and Trunks when they were play-fighting. Did it remind his Uncle of how he and his father would fight together? Is that why Uncle needed to fight Father again, now that he had returned from the dead? Did he really like his father?

_"Kakarotto, time for our long-awaited match."_

Was Uncle missing Father, too, maybe more than Mother? Goten knew that he and Trunks were always together, and when they fused, it was like they had never been lonely before. They got to play in the little world inside of Gotenks, playing games and not worrying about much except beating Buu. Even when they were absorbed, they had each other, and they felt so safe together.

Maybe that's what Vegito was... but he smelt different too. When he had asked Gohan about fusion and how they had smelt, he had said that Gotenks smelt like Goten and Trunks. Vegito smelt like a different person completely. It was like Father and Uncle made a new person when they fused.

'Then it's like how Father and Mother made me!' The thought struck him, and Goten was left smiling. Father and Uncle didn't leave them on purpose; they couldn't separate and they made a new person. If they separated, then Vegito would disappear and he couldn't be the same person as before anymore. If Father and Uncle were safe and not lonely, and if Vegito was really a good guy like he seemed at first, then Goten wanted to get to know him.

He smiled as he walked over to his crayon box and grabbed some paper and crayons. He walked back to the photo album and began to use the cover of the album as a hard surface to draw on.

Orange and blue and black... Soon he was left with a picture of his father, uncle, and a little Vegito, like a family. On his father's side, he also drew his mother, brother, and himself; on Vegeta's side, he drew Trunks and Bulma.

'A big family!' Goten thought, and his smile was bright.

* * *

In his room, Gohan glared down at his  _dougi_ , wondering why the Hell he had asked for Kibito to change his clothes to it. He did know why he had done it, but the reasoning behind it was faulty in the face of everything that had just happened. He had looked forward to the tournament all because his father was coming. His angel of a father; the kid that had grown up in the mountains and became a hero; the Saiya-jin that was gentle and kind; the man that defied so many odds still continued to surprise Gohan in how he acted. He had thought that maybe, just maybe, that this time would be different, that maybe his father would stay.

His father had never really cared for staying around. From the vague memories that he had from his childhood, before finding out that he had alien blood in him, before meeting his uncle Raditz, he knew that his father was rather young when he was born, that he knew about children and sex but never connected the two. Goku had been raised away from all human contact until the age of twelve, and because of that, he had some trouble with interactions and keeping up with people. In those years away from the world, he had not changed, and so he didn't have the need to express any change.

No wonder his friends were so shocked to discover that Gohan was born; the boy that they knew never really grew up was suddenly supposed to be a man.

Gohan ripped the  _dougi_ 's top off of his body, letting out a yell of frustration. His body was burning with anger and he cursed out loud, because the man that he was so upset about was the reason for the fire under his skin, the power that slept inside of him and could destroy the world if he wanted to. He ripped at the cloth further, because every color and fabric was pissing him off; they were only a reminder that his hero wasn't really a hero. it was out of convenience and wanting to protect only his life - his family, his friends, and his ultimate rival - that Goku did anything to protect the Earth.

He remembered that day that Raditz came.

_"Kuririn was right! People like you are scum!"_

But he also remembered that scent - and curse this overly instinctual body that he was born with! - of hope, and sudden rectification, because the world suddenly made sense in Goku's eyes that day; he couldn't act humanly because he wasn't human at all.

He remembered the day that he fought against Cell, and his body was burning worse than before, the  _dougi_ ripping under his fingers like paper. He went into the battle frightened because his father, his hero and guardian angel, said that he couldn't beat this monster, the creature that devoured so many. The moment that Gohan walked into that wasteland, that No Man's Land, he remembered his body wanting to run away. He had to leave, but his angel was there so he should have been safe.

Should have been safe.

The senzu was in Cell's hand before he had realized it and now Cell was stronger than before, all due to his angel. Gohan had almost died, and all his angel-father had worried about was allowing his son to have a fair fight against a genocidal freak of nature. His angel-father became an angel again, because self-sacrifice warranted an angel status again, and Gohan's heart was broken.

It was broken worse on the days after; one day being the day that his father refused to come back to life, all because his enemies surely still wandered in existence and would continue to target them all and because Gohan, in his youth and obscurity, could be an unknown hero to the world; and the second was finding that the little brother that his mother was giving birth to would not only never know his father, their angel-father, but was cursed to look like the man that broke his heart so many times.

'You were an angel! I told Goten that! I lied to him about everything!'

He was bare under his own hands, his nails catching on his skin and tearing into his flesh.

'Damn you, Vegito!'

Vegeta and Kakarotto... the Kakarotto that his father had been born as and could let go of being, not even for the sake of his wife and sons; regardless of their humanity, Goku should have cared for them more, not been the father that he was, that always left without a valid reason...

Vegeta had been the same way with Trunks and Bulma in the beginning, but he had changed.

'Until  _Oto-san_ came back.'

Did Goku... Did Kakarotto really have to ruin everything that he had come in contact with? The moment that he had come back, even if only for 24 hours, Vegeta had stared at him like his last meal. The moment that their battle in the Budokai was ascertained, they took glances at each other, eager for their next meal of each other. No wonder they wouldn't want to be separated from their fusion.

They were wrapped up in each other, the last of the survivor race that the Gods had condemned to be dead years ago...

Gohan dressed himself in old garments, ones that were definitely human, and went under his covers, trying to block the heartbreak and the sound of his mother dropping pans in the kitchen.

* * *

Her tears were getting into the bread dough. Chi-Chi kept wiping with her sleeve, but it did stop. She was shaking, and her vision was blurry.

Her husband was gone, and he chose it. He would be gone forever, and he knew that. They would not see him again, and he chose that.

The dough, she quickly cut into little pieces, enough to make several dozen buns that her sons would eat with the new currant jam that she had made. They would be baked in just ten minutes, short enough that she could take out the small cake that she had made and take off the message that she had written on it.

'Welcome home.'

It would have felt like when he was alive, like a long trip to outer space again.

Just for a moment, she thought they could have gone to the park after the tournament. They could have spent time together, Goku could have gotten to know his younger son. He could have seen Gohan's grades in school and his strength.

They could have spent time together, just Goku and Chi-Chi, like they haven't done in the seven years since they were apart.

It was the first time in a long time that Chi-Chi had her bread burn.

The chair where her husband sat was still empty.

* * *

Trunks was stuck in the gravity room, his mother working her hardest to coax him out. He wasn't a verbal boy, nor was he the most hopeful.

The Prince of Saiya-jin, she'd told him, and here he was, the son of a Prince without his father. Goten didn't get what having a papa was like, so the kid was probably playing with his brother at home, like nothing was wrong.

'Nothing's wrong for Goten! He's never had his father before! They haven't had Goku- _san_ for a long time so they're probably happy still!'

As the gravity began to fade, the energy pressing down on him disappeared and his mother ran inside, scolding him for playing in here alone.

"But... it has Papa's smell."

His mother didn't say anything; she only held him close as his tears finally came out of his eyes.

It only got worse as Trunks thought back to the last thing his father had done for him.

_"Let me hug you, Trunks."_

It was the first and last time that his father would hold him, but it wasn't the first time that his father had done something to make his mother hold her son close and cry along with him.

* * *

Vegito destroyed another part of Yaadorato, the rocks crumbling underneath his might. The natives recognized the part of him that they had met before, and they showed him the same place where Kakarotto had taken out his rage, had learnt how to control the newborn rage that the loss of his friends and threat against his son had brought to life in him. The ground itself carried the scent of lightning and ashes, making Vegito wonder how in Creation Kakarotto was able to live alone on Earth for so many years as a lonely, happy boy, when the Saiya-jin were people of rage, instinct, and society. The power to destroy everything in the hands of one that, by chance or by fate, would never choose to do so.

Vegeta's blood was lively, an opposite to Kakarotto's cooler image. Vegeta held control at the highest degree in comportment. The rage was so ingrained in Vegeta's personality, along with his defiance, that he needed to learn that wonderful softness from Kakarotto, the beautiful soft creature that was the last in the universe.

Vegito saw the light from his hands and knew that his fathers were with him. He was safe.

Safe.


	7. Relief

King Kai was drinking tea with Bubbles when he heard a small voice speak to him. It wasn't small, exactly; it was shy, like it was tired and wondering if things would be alright to communicate now.

'King Kai?'

'Yes, God of Earth?'

'Are you able to find the one known as Vegito?'

King Kai smiled. 'Of course! Any being with a power that high! Amazing that Goku and Vegeta actually managed to work that out together, ain't it?'

'I-It is, sir!' Dende's voice sounded flustered, but King Kai turned to focus on the topic at hand. Vegito... He'd gone rather quickly with his teleportation technique, towards... That was familiar, the Kai noticed, his antennae wriggling.

'Ah! In that direction! Where have I sensed that before...?'

* * *

Kakarotto was caressing a smooth cheek, Vegito curling against the idea as he meditated in the northern parts of Parmi Desert. He could feel Vegeta and Kakarotto just at the edge of where they joined and where he was born.

Vegeta had fallen asleep and now Kakarotto was looking at Vegeta's youth. It was a small, short memory, but it was a precious one, one that Vegeta wasn't entirely sure of, frightened that it was a dream.

A low-level Saiya-jin came before the King and a very small Prince Vegeta. The hair was familiar. The leader of the Cart, Bardock, was the father of the Prince's subordinate, and the young leader had gained victory over the Tsufuruu-jin on the last moon of Vegeta-sei.

A small cart had taken down the last stronghold of the monsters that haunted the Saiya-jin, and they would be rewarded for it.

The Prince approached the adult and offered his hand, palm downwards. Bardock knelt and placed his hand, palm upwards, under Vegeta's so that their palms would touch.

"Congratulations, Bardock, on your victory. I can grant a request."

"I ask for nothing, Kingling, but that may my younger son be trained with you, like his brother before, when he is older."

Prince Vegeta nodded.

That night, the Prince met a newborn Saiya-jin, the younger son of Bardock. Young black eyes looked right at Vegeta in innocent curiosity. The small fingers wrapping around his smallest finger weren't so strong, but they wouldn't let go.

Vegito smiled at the idea that his fathers wanted each other since before they had loved each other. They wanted to grow stronger, fight each other... be together. The teamwork avoidance was an issue of pride on both of their parts, Kakarotto's much more subdued in that he never called it pride. "I wanna fight on my own!" Goku would shout, and Kakarotto would use his natural Saiya-jin pride as a reason.

He pressed against the barrier that lay between him and his fathers, smiling when he noticed Kakarotto, not wanting to wake Vegeta, carefully moved to press against the barrier as well.

'...e...to?'

' _Oto-san_?'

'Ve...to!'

Vegeta, surprised and awoken by the shout, sat up from Kakarotto's lap and turned to see Vegito on the other side of that barrier between them, their lines of sight meeting and locking themselves together. Vegeta pushed against the barrier as well, against the same spot where Kakarotto was pressing. Of course, Vegito reasoned, this would increase the pressure on their side and give the barrier more to push against, less inherent strength.

'Papa?'

'...gito!'

It was getting thinner! Vegito pushed with all of his might, and he could feel the physical body that he had begin to sweat from the exertion. Oh! So close to meeting his fathers and not have their feeling just come to him! He'd get to know them in the way that Gohan knew them, talk to them, trade more than just emotions and ideas, the faint wisps of them. Closer, still, and for the first time, Vegito felt the heat of his fathers hands, their fingertips-

"Vegito!"

The voice of Kaiou-sama pierced through Vegito's concentration, and suddenly, there were no more fingertip touches...

'Papa!  _Oto-san_! Answer me!'

No more voices.

He couldn't even see them from his side of the barrier.

Blackness... and the ghost of loneliness filled his heart. Vegito felt part of the rage from before, when he had just fought with his oldest brother and then ran away to Yaadorato. It was alive under his skin, a fire that offered to grow if Vegito allowed it.

"K-Kaiou-sama?"

" _Hello, Vegito! I knew I recognized that planet's energy. You could say I read it in the stars._ "

Vegito groaned inwardly and Vegeta frowned. Kakarotto chuckled as his former master laughed at his own bad joke.

" _My wonderful humor aside, Vegito; how are you doing? I heard that you left the Earth in a hurry._ "

"... Kaiou-sama, how often do you watch over the world after it's safe?"

" _Hey, I am very busy watching this section of the universe! I swear, you can be as serious as Vegeta-_ " Vegito smiled at the comment, " _-and as rude as Goku_." and frowned at that one...

"Kaiou-sama, you were looking for me, then?" Vegito muttered out. He listened to the Kai's story of how Dende had asked for his help in locating Vegito. It ounded like Dende hadn't chosen a side at all, surprising as Gohan and Dende had been friends since their youth. Vegito could remember seeing the litte Nameku-jin for the first time as Vegeta. Dende had been so small and weak-looking, yet he was able to heal Vegeta from a hole in his torso. Kakarotto had met Dende as the last hope of the Earth when they were without Dragon Balls for a time.

'A small hope,' he thought. He reached outwards towards his fathers again, looking for them with that small bit of hope that his fathers always held. Vegeta would call it determination, and Kakarotto would call it the same. Vegito nearly wept, so much like the child he was, when he felt the small feelings of concern, love, and happiness that didn't belong to him; no, they belonged to his fathers, who had almost been lost from his vision, into the sea of blackness called Loneliness.

'If I lose them, will they disappear forever? Will I only be the fusion of Kakarotto and Vegeta, not the three of us here in one body, but just one being?'

" _Vegito?_ "

"F-Forgive me, Kaiou-sama. I was lost in thought!"

" _... Anyway, the God of Earth was sounding worried for you._ "

Vegito scoffed at that. "I scared everyone. Everyone wants Kakarotto and Vegeta, not Vegito. They wouldn't let me tell them that Kakarotto and Vegeta are still present within my body."

" _How... Are you certain of this? Perhaps this will calm them then. They lost Goku already twice; to lose him and Vegeta must be hurting their hearts._ "

"What part of 'they don't want me' do you not understand!?" Vegito yelled. He didn't need the reminders. He knew that his fathers had died, and he could remember the pain of each death as it came; being shot through the chest twice and exploding twice wasn't so nice and clean, nor were the events painless, but why did no one think that maybe Kakarotto and Vegeta needed to be wanted... They were necessary for a time, and then they were criticized for following their blood when they were not necessary. They were not blood to be sacrificed, but to be celebrated.

" _As rude as Goku! They are Goku and Vegeta's comrades and families, and yours by extension!_ "

"Then tell them that!" Vegito's heart was racing and racing, thumping against his rib-cage like a jack-hammer. "Tell them that they just accept that the Fusion was permanent, that we don't know if it would even work if we tried to undo it!"

Kakarotto was curling his hand around his shoulder into something like an embrace and Vegeta was holding that same shoulder that Kakarotto had slung his arm over. It wasn't fair, Vegito thought, that they wanted the same things, those strong hands supporting and protecting them, and that Vegito would never get to feel them again if the Fusion was undone. Vegito wouldn't even  _exist_.

"... _Vegito... I will talk to them- Ah, wait! It seems that someone else would like to speak with you. Perhaps they can convince you._ "

Vegito huffed. It was probably Dende.

"-Vegito?-"

'That voice?'

"Goten? How are you... Kaiou-sama?"

"-I'm with Dende in his Sanctuary place. Vegito, come back home!-"

Vegito looked down at the ground and out to the landscape of the Parmi Desert. Dust was picking up, the remnant of what he had destroyed blowing into the strong northern winds.

"I can't... I don't think I-"

"-Vegito! Come home!-"

"It's not my home, Goten!" He gripped his head in fury, childish fury. Goten didn't understand! He wasn't anyone's child, not like Trunks who was kept out of Bulma's affection nor like Goten who was kept out of Chi-Chi's longing to keep part of her departed husband. He was unwanted by all save for the two that created him, and now they were gone.

"-But you're Uncle Vegeta's and Daddy's son! Like how Mommy and Daddy made me, and how Bulma and Uncle made Trunks! You just have Daddy and Vegeta as parents, though.-"

Kakarotto smiled, Vegeta chuckled, and Vegito gawked, his stomach doing flips at the small boy's words. Was it out of innocence that he made this presumption, or was it out of childlike logic and not wanting to see anyone be sad? That little ball of hope in his chest was jumping up again, eager to be free.

"-Vegito... We can talk with Mommy and Gohan. I wanna meet you...-"

Kakarotto pushed Vegito forward slightly, making him take a step forward.

'Could it work...?'

Vegeta nodded.

"I won't go with you to see Chi-Chi and Gohan..."

"-Dende has a plan!-"

Vegito placed his fingers to his forehead and found himself embraced by the small boy that looked too much like his father. The loneliness seemed to fade away.

* * *

 

"Welcome back, Vegito!"

The man, born only hours before, began to sob for the first time since his birth. He let Goten wipe his tears away, laughing as he held his youngest older brother.

A stranger's hand on his shoulder made Vegito look up. There was Dende, a flustered smile on his face.

"Forgive me. I didn't know that you felt so lonely-" Vegito shivered as he remembered the young Guardian's insight. "- and you may stay here in the Sanctuary until we get things settled. Would that be all right?"

The taller Saiya-jin nodded, relieved.


	8. Blame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update 13 November 2016: they denied my child's existence. Why?

Goten smiled as he curled against his brother's chest. Vegito was taking a nap, a sound that made Goten think of a cat coming from somewhere deep in his throat. His clothes were dirty and sweaty, but Goten had asked and Vegito didn't want to take them off just yet. He had wanted a long nap first, then he could wash his clothes. It didn't seem like the blankets would get dirty, so Goten laid on his brother's chest, humming along with the purring from his brother.

Vegito had called him _Nii-chan_ , which was kind of strange. He guessed that it made sense, because Vegito was just born and Goten was already seven, so Vegito was the younger brother compared to him. He had the strange instinct to protect Vegito, to protect this person that came from the two strong male people in his life that weren't really attached to Earth at all; after all, Vegeta was the Prince of Saiya-jin, and his father was the strongest Super Saiya-jin, the first one in a thousand years, if Gohan told him right!

Goten pressed a kiss to Vegito's shirt, curling up in the sweat-soaked fabric and feeling safe and warm and so nice. It was like being held by his brother after Gohan worked out, after his mother was sweating from working so hard in the kitchen, and like how his father had held him, safe and secure, like a precious thing that he didn't know about too well. It was a nice feeling.

Like home.

* * *

Chi-Chi had yelled at Gohan and Goten to wash their hands before dinner. She had just set down a large bowl of rice when Bulma had called, mentioning that they would be over shortly. She huffed. It would have been nice if they had called earlier.

Gohan had come down, already gathering his food onto his plate, and by the time that Chi-Chi  they'd been waiting for Goten for the last thirty minutes. Gohan was already halfway through his second helping, talking about school with his mother as they ate. He'd go back to school, he said, since he was going to stop fighting. He and Videl had spoken of it for a while - no, they weren't getting married - and it was better to focus on school for a while so they'd finish their preparatory school this year.

"Why hasn't he come back down yet?" Chi-Chi frowned and looked to her older son. "Didn't he go up with ya to wash yer hands?!"

"I didn't see him up there... I thought he was downstairs with you."

Chi-Chi didn't care for the loud screeching of her chair as she quickly ran upstairs and began to look. What was her son doing? Her younger son had always been so much like his father, like her husband knew that he was going to die and so he had left the clone of himself in her belly, only to-

_"Dad told me to tell you... He's sorry."_

_"But... he promised."_

Chi-Chi had only been twenty-three when she became a widow for the first tie. She was twenty-seven years old when she became a widow for the second time.

"Goten! Where are you?!" 

_"Goku-sa, I missed you!"_

_"I missed ya, too."_

" _Okaa-san_ , what's wrong?"

"Where's your brother?!"

What had happened to her in these past seven years? She had taught her younger son to fight, to let him start school later, and he wasn't near as eloquent as his older brother was at the age of seven. What had happened to how she saw the world? What made her think that anything her husband did - her alien husband that lived and breathed battle, that left her and lied to her for three years to train their then-only son to be a soldier, a blood-thirsty fighter! - was safe?

Why did she want to see her husband in their Goten?

In her Goten?

_"Gohan-chan! I'm not lettin' ya outta ma' sight again!"_

"Get the phone now! I'll call Bulma-sa and you go look for your brother!"

" _Okaa-san_ , what's wrong?"

"... Your brother might take more after your father than I wanted him, too."

* * *

Bulma and Trunks were parking outside of the Son home when she heard Chi-Chi's screaming from the inside. She had only heard something like that when Chi-Chi had come to Kame House and learnt of Goku's first death, and when they had been in the Sanctuary and found out of Gohan's supposed death. Trunks, frowning up at his mother, quickly got out of the plane. Bulma followed, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Goten- _chan_!"

Bulma shivered. She understood that fear and pain in her heart; it was the same that she'd felt when her partner, her Vegeta, had died.

Gohan stood at the base of the stairs, his eyes fierce and scrutinizing. His clothes looked... they looked so normal. Trousers and a shirt. It was like he was only human, nothing like...

'The men that left me. My husband, and my best friend...'

"Bulma- _san_ , Trunks- _kun_ , why are you here?"

"Goten called me and he said that he needed me to come over for a plan," Trunks explained, crossing his arms. He was frowning again, and Bulma's heart twisted itself with how much she saw his father in him.

The heavy, hurried steps that hit the stair-steps pulled Bulma's attention from her son, and they brought it to focus on Chi-Chi.

The woman couldn't be Chi-Chi. Bulma's blood was running cold at the sight. Chi-Chi was four years younger than she was; why did she seem so old? The younger woman's skin was pale, her forehead covered in sweat. The lines of her face seemed too easily filled, as though they'd been etched into her face for years now. Why didn't that surprise her? She had been stressed since the day that Goku had died the first time and had been crying every night that her son wasn't in her arms, that her husband wasn't there to make her feel safe, that this could have all been prevented if Goku wasn't so different, so inhuman as to choose to die with one that called itself his brother.

"Chi-Chi?"

"Goten isn't here..." That voice was hardly above a whisper, Bulma wouldn't dare call it a cry. It was barely a plea. It was like a prayer, like the opposite would be made true.

Trunks stepped forward.

"Goten said that he was gonna try and get Vegito to come home, whatever that means..."

Gohan let out a scoff of disbelief. "What did he mean? You don't know at all, Trunks- _kun_?"

Trunks had no time to explain before Chi-Chi got down on her knees in front of him. "You don't know where he went? You can't feel his  _ki_ or anythin'?!"

"Chi-Chi." Bulma knelt to hold her friend's shoulder, trying to keep her at a safe distance. Chi-Chi's hands were like claws when they found purchase, unrelenting, and Bulma didn't want Trunks to have to get familiar with that feeling. With that thought, the older woman turned to her son. "Sweetie, did you try yet?"

Trunks nodded. "I don't know where he is."

Gohan sighed. "I already tried feeling for him. He's either too far away, or he's hiding... I don't think Vegito would do anything to hurt Goten, as much as I don't like the guy."

"What makes you so sure, Gohan- _chan_?" Chi-Chi's eyes turned to her son, and the air grew hot in the room. "He hurt you. He said those things about your father-"

"What he said about  _Oto-san_ doesn't matter. Goten is  _Oto-san_ 's son, and Vegeta liked Goten." Gohan sighed. "Maybe we can ask Dende. If he doesn't know, he can contact Kaio- _sama_."

Bulma smiled at that. That sounded more like the Gohan that she knew. It was a more level-headed voice, not like the one that had fought with Vegito on the Sanctuary grounds, the one that sounded so much like a child, one that needed its father.

"That sounds like a plan, Gohan- _kun_." Bulma helped Chi-Chi up and led her to the plane outside, turning to her son and their friend. "Let's go by car. We've had a long day already. We should all rest."

"Bulma- _sa_ -"

"Don't worry, I have a whole other mug of coffee to keep me going. Everyone rest."

As every settled into their seats, Bulma remembered that she'd been in this situation before. She smiled as she recalled that May when Gohan was only five, Goku was alive, and she had been enamored by a bandit instead of a prince.

Yet, this was still with the same goal in mind: to bring back her friend and the man that she loved. The Hoi-Poi capsule that shrunk and opened another made a familiar noise.

'The irony.'

* * *

Piccolo and Dende weren't surprised by the two families arriving to the Sanctuary. Goten had already come. The sun was gone from the sky and the stars were twinkling in anticipation for what was to take place.

"Gohan- _san_." The young Guardian of Earth stepped forward as he felt his friend approach. He was off-put by the negativity from his young friend, and he was taken aback by the urgency that came from the families that arrived. For a moment, the world stood still as he felt the energy from the four visitors. His friend was filled with an ire that he had associated with the killers on Nameku-sei.

"Do you know where Goten is? Is he here with Vegito?"

Dende shivered at his friend's voice. It was something so hurt and pained that he almost answered with words of comfort, but the intention behind them appeared so violent; it was as though Gohan was ready to become that second-level of Super Saiya-jin again, something monstrous that enjoyed a battle and the taste of blood more than anything else.

"Will you hurt Vegito, Gohan?" Piccolo came forward, looking to his old pupil.

"Piccolo- _san_ , I won't hurt him if he didn't hurt my brother."

Chi-Chi stepped towards Dende, hands clasped together. "Please, Dende-Kami- _sama_. Is Goten- _chan_ here?"

There was a thickness to the air, an air so thin, that Dende's nod only seemed to thicken. "They are in a room here, and they are fine. They've only been there since Goten arrived and Vegito came back at his request."

Trunks stepped forward, hands on his hips. "I don't sense Goten's  _ki_ at all."

"Vegito convinced him to hide it, as he is doing the same."

"Why-"

"I won't let you take my brother away."

The families stood and turned, Vegito in their presence. His form stood imposing, a predator on a peaceful plane of existence. Dende observed his companions, the ones that he had known for years; their bodies were immediately on the defensive, save for Bulma's. She was ready to run to him, to Vegito, as though he were a magnet of opposite polarity to her. Perhaps it was something similar; he had heard of the adventures that she had had with Goku as a child, and he had heard her cry out her love for Vegeta upon the Sanctuary's floor.

" _Your_ brother?" Gohan's power shook the air, his energy causing a stir in the air not unlike the scent of a fire.

"He is Kakarotto's son, and so am I!"

"You're something that my father made, that Vegeta- _san_ made, but you are not my brother!"

How Gohan ended up on the ground, Dende couldn't see, but Vegito was over him, a lion ready to devour a defenseless calf.

"You wretch! You never dared to step outside your mother's human boundaries, it's no wonder that Kakarotto was disappointed that he had such a son! And to think that you're the first of the new Kingdom that Vegeta would reign over!"

Gohan delivered a well-placed kick to Vegito's side, making the younger male curl forward and out of control in the situation that they had been placed. Gohan turned to the side, rolling away from his captor.

"What are you?"

"Saiya-jin," Vegito coughed out. He stood, Gohan rising to meet his eyes. "I am every goal they wanted! I told you this before!"

"Give me my brother back," Gohan growled. His hands curled into claws, glowing with light and anger. They came up and formed a gesture that resembled a gouging tool that his father once used in their little garden so long ago.

"Onii-chan! Stop!" The voice cut through the air, and Gohan turned to it quickly, the voice of his younger brother enrapturing him. Vegito took this moment to rush forward and throw Gohan back down to the floor of the Sanctuary. Goten's little hands were grabbing at him, trying to make sure that he was all right, little words spilling from his mouth that spoke only of care. Vegito had seemed to disappear.

Gohan lifted his head, ignoring the fearful words of his mother. Vegito was gripping his head, growling out words under his breath that Gohan didn't understand. The fists that had been fighting against Gohan were claws that desired to just take something out of his mind. 

"Vegito!" Dende approached the pure-blooded Saiya-jin, trying to discern what on Earth was going on. This had happened the first time that he and Gohan had fought. What brought this on, Dende could only suspect. "Vegito, what-"

"Kakarotto... Shut up!" The words were hissed out, a violent plea for... for mercy? Freedom? Forgiveness? Dende felt through the taller one's ki as he placed a hand on a muscled shoulder. There was something frightened and fierce, an animal ready to run again.

"Vegito, calm yourself." No, that ki was not frightened; it was terrified. It was afraid for itself; but it wasn't alone. The familiar kis of Vegeta and Son Goku were there. He pressed further inward, and he felt that Son Goku was not only there; he was angry and concerned, for and at Vegito and Gohan both. He sent a gentle inquiry through Vegito to reach Son Goku, his ally in arms, but received nothing back; Vegeta, however, sent a compulsion to pull away through him. Dende obeyed, only a moment earlier than when Vegito finally stood, breathing haggard and shallow.

Vegito came over to Gohan, eyes searching and hungry. Chi-Chi stood between them, eyes furious.

"Don' come near my son!"

"You-" Vegito started, but Chi-Chi yelled back, protecting her child the only way she knew how.

"You aren't Goku-sa, and you aren't the nice Vegeta that played wi' Goten! They would never hurt Gohan-chan like you just did!"

The world was still for a moment, a human opposing a Saiya-jin that could crush her in his own hand. Vegito stood still, his hands falling to his sides.

"And Gohan wouldn't be so weak if he had just trained! He didn't have to stop doing that!  _Oto-sama_ didn't die so that he would lose his honor and strength, strength they fought for a year for!" Vegito growled out every word, his fangs bared. "No, he's a coddled precious thing that had his father! I didn't have  _Oto-sama_! I didn't have anybody and I still don't have anybody! Goten is safe with me; I wouldn't hurt him! But you keep him coddled and safe and ruin what he can be!"

A resounding slap echoed over the plane of the Sanctuary, and Chi-Chi pulled back her slightly swelling hand. Vegito's head had barely moved, the only movement due to the surprise of it.

"You don't know us!" Chi-Chi growled. "You're not Goku-sa's son and you can't say those things! Buu's gone, an' you're the strongest thing in the Universe! My children don't have to fight anymore except when they have time t' relax. You can keep the world safe bu' stay away from my sons!"

Vegito said nothing.

"Why did you have t' take Goku-sa from me? From us! If you want to stay that way, Goku-sa, I won't accept that! I won't accept that my second son has to be without his pa again!"

The world stood still.

Bulma cried out, making her presence take precedence. She ran forward as Chi-Chi flew back, trying to catch her. The collision between them threw them both back, Bulma's heart racing. Trunks stood behind her somehow and stopped them from going off of the edge.

"Mama?!"

"I'm fine, Trunks." Bulma looked to Chi-Chi, who was not bruised or bleeding. She looked stunned. Bulma looked up to Vegito, his fist still stretched out, as though he had punched her. She looked down at Chi-Chi, but the woman herself gave no evidence of injury; her eyes were tearful. As Gohan stood and rushed towards Vegito, Vegito easily dodging everything thrown at him, Bulma felt Chi-Chi grab her hand. "Chi-Chi?"

Black-brown eyes looked up at her, tears finally spilling from them. "That's what Goku-sa..."

Bulma blinked, trying to figure out what her friend was trying to say when she felt a memory from years ago come forward. They had all been so young then, and Chi-Chi was a strange princess that entered a tournament without a name and came searching for a young man that didn't remember her, a young man that held enough honor to keep his ignorant promise. The condition was to beat her.

He had punched the air hard enough to throw her back, because he really didn't want to hurt her in the first place.

He wanted to know who she was.

Gohan's fist made contact finally against Vegito's shoulder, sending the other to the ground. Gohan drove his knee into the other's back, Vegito crying out in surprise. Blow after blow connected, and Vegito grew quiet, bearing the injuries without remorse of the feelings or actions that started it all. Gohan let his feelings out in a hurricane of motion, against the stranger that had ruined everything and the father that had let everything be ruined.

"Nii-chan! Stop!" Goten grabbed the back of his brother's shirt, pulling his brother back as best as he could, but Gohan pushed him away. "Don't hurt my brother!"

"He's not our brother!" Gohan gave another hit to Vegito, the warrior finally falling flat. Gohan closed his eyes, trying to contain his anger. He almost felt enough to turn into the monster that didn't think, didn't feel, and killed his father, but it wasn't there yet. "I won't accept that my father understood that he'd be away forever, just to save the world again! It can't be my fault again!"

"Heh..."

Goten bypassed Gohan and looked over Vegito, trying to see him and help him stand. The taller warrior, on the other hand, stood up readily, his hands relaxed and cocked on his hips. The stable body, now standing, was still, and then it began to quiver.

"Vegito?" Goten asked, but Vegito didn't properly respond with words.

He began to laugh.

Gohan growled, staring the other down. "What's so funny?"

"You-" he chuckled, "you're scared of that blame, and you want to push it on me." Vegito laid a hand on his own face as he laughed. "You want your sin on me?! A sin you didn't know about?"

"What are you talking about?" Gohan rushed forward, but he didn't notice that hand on Vegito's face become only two fingers. Vegito vanished, leaving Gohan to grab only air.

* * *

 

On another world, Vegito listened to the faint and distant sound of Kakarotto crying. It was something that he did not enjoy, but he knew that his father was innocent in the malice of Creation. Vegeta was softly consoling him, as this was a lesson that he had learned many years ago, decades ago. Kakarotto was protesting, wondering how his sacrifice had made his son so angry, how protecting him made him so bitter. And Vegito was the same way; how did these upbringings lead to the same result?

Vegito sighed, looking at the blue grass beneath him. This was a planet that Kakarotto had seen for a short time and one that Vegeta had only heard of. The air smelt fresh, pure; and the sky was a lively green that had only been a dream to see on Planet Vegeta. To see such a color was a lucky one, the exact opposite of Planet Vegeta's rich earth, making such a sight more lively due to the lack of exposure to it.

"Vegito, what do you need of us?" He turned to see Moori, the leader of the Nameku-jin bowing slightly.

"... I'm thirsty." He followed Moori, who offered him some food as well. They had begun to grow some of the seeds that Bulma had given them while still on Earth, so the plant named Wheat was growing, and the food called Bread was the beginning of a blossoming interplanetary economy between Planets Namek and Tatsumori. Vegito indulged in the bread silently, his gurgling stomach enjoying its first meal.

Kakarotto, thrown off by the taste, ceased his crying. Vegeta silently thanks Vegito.

The son only nodded, content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stuff's going on with my parents actually, so this chapter is a bit more personal

**Author's Note:**

> Works Cited for Saiya-jin Behavior:
> 
> http://www-personal.umich.edu/~phyl/anthro/mating.html  
> http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/chimpanzee/behav  
> http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/bamboo_lemur/behav  
> http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/gorilla/behav  
> http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/lar_gibbon/behav  
> http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/hoolock_gibbon/behav  
> http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/white-cheeked_gibbon/behav


End file.
